Rick, you have asked about the yellow gold & red symbolism.
In respect of this keris , I think we are probably just looking at artistic expression, but when we begin to scratch around into Balinese & Javanese symbolism we can usually come up with something.
Very often this "something" is completely misunderstood by the outsider who is trying to interpret it, so I'm not offering the little explanation below as an answer to your question, just something that me seems pretty obvious.
Some time ago somebody asked me why the back of Balinese wrongkos/gandars were often painted yellow, I provided this opinion below.
But although yellow is a favourite colour for the back of wrongkos, other colours occur too, and red is perhaps the second most popular colour for painting the back of Bali wrongkos/gandars.
Red is the colour of Brahma.
What follows is not an answer Rick, but it is something that might be thought upon.
"*****, you asked why the back of keris scabbards are painted yellow.
I don't know, but i've given some thought to the question, and here are some connections that can be made:-
the pusaka keris joins the present custodian with his ancestors and those of the current generation
Hari Kuningan is the end of Galungan, and is the day when the ancestors return to the other world after visiting earth during Galungan.
Kuning = yellow, Hari Kuningan = Yellow Day
Offerings to the ancestors on Hari Kuningan include yellow rice and tend towards the yellow spectrum
Balinese attach symbolism to colours, and yellow is the colour of Mahadewa, and of the west
In the Mahabharata, Siwa is better known as Mahadewa, that is, the highest of the Gods, Siwa is the Destroyer, who frees man from this world and lets the spirit return through Brahma's creation to another cycle of life. Mahadewa's weapon is the nagapasa and his vehicle is the dragon (naga).
The keris is an icon of Siwa.
So :-
keris>Siwa> Mahadewa> yellow>naga> keris>ancestors>keris
looking at these iconic relationships it seems to me to obvious why the backs of keris scabbards are painted yellow."
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